The American Missionary Vol 39 No 11 November 1885

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11, November, 1885, by Various

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Title: The American Missionary -- Volume 39, No. 11, November, 1885

Author: Various

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Language: English

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The American Missionary, VOL. XXXIX, NO. 11, November 1885.

EDITORIAL.

The Figures—Financial
What Our Friends Think and Say
Death of President Ware
Iyakaptapi
Indians in the Dakota Association

THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

General Survey—Church Work South
Educational Work South

[Pg i]

Page.

297
298
300
301
303

304
306
309

Industrial Training
Mountain Work
Work Among the Indians
Work Among the Chinese
The Woman's Bureau—Finances
Conclusion

RECEIPTS

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

Rooms, 56 Reade Street.

Price 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.

Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter.

American Missionary Association.

President, Hon. Wm. B. Washburn, LL. D., Mass.

Vice-Presidents.

Rev. C. L. Goodell, D. D.,

Mo.
Rev. F. A. Noble, D. D., Ill.

Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, D.

D., N. Y.

Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.
D., Mass.

Rev. D. O. Mears, D. D., Mass.

Corresponding Secretary.

Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D., 56 Reade Street, N. Y.

Assistant Corresponding Secretary.

Rev. James Powell, D. D., 56 Reade Street, N. Y.

Treasurer.

H. W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N. Y.

Auditors.

W. H. Rogers,
Peter McCartee.

Executive Committee.

John H. Washburn, Chairman.
A. P. Foster, Secretary.

For Three Years.
For Two Years.
For One Year.

Lyman Abbott.
S. B. Halliday.
J. E. Rankin.

A. S. Barnes.
Samuel Holmes.
Wm. H. Ward.

J. R. Danforth.
Samuel S.
Marples.
J. L. Withrow.

Clinton B. Fisk.
Charles L. Mead. John H.

Washburn.

A. P. Foster.
Elbert B. Monroe. Edmund L.

Champlin.

District Secretaries.

Rev. C. L. Woodworth, D. D., 21 Cong'l House, Boston.

Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.
Rev. Charles W. Shelton, Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.
Rev. C. J. Ryder, Field Superintendent.

Bureau of Woman's Work.

309

310
311
313
315
316

317

[Pg ii]

Secretary, Miss D. E. Emerson, 56 Reade St., N. Y.

COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary; those
relating to the collecting fields, to Rev. James Powell, D. D., or to the District Secretaries: letters for the
"American Missionary," to the Editor, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

May be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to
either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

"I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of —— dollars, in trust, to pay the same in ——
days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the
'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the
Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be
attested by three witnesses.

THE

American Missionary

Vol. XXXIX.
NOVEMBER, 1885.
No. 11.

American Missionary Association.

$365,000

NEEDED FOR THE CURRENT YEAR.

Your Committee are convinced, that not less than a THOUSAND DOLLARS a day
are imperatively demanded, to perfect the admirably organized, plans of the
Association, even for the present, to say nothing of the pressing needs of the early
future.—

[Finance Committee's Report Adopted by Annual Meeting at Salem.]

THE FIGURES.

Donations.
Legacies.

Oct. 1, 1884, to Sept. 30, 1885
$249,392.10
$41,501.66
$290,894.06

Oct. 1, 1883, to Sept. 30, 1884
223,034.77
64,559.42
287,594.19

—————
—————
—————

Inc. $26,357.63 Dec. $23,057.76 Inc. $3,299.87

The figures given above mark the close of our fiscal year. While they show a gratifying increase of
receipts from living donors over those of the preceding year, the falling off in legacies has been so heavy
that our books balance on the wrong side, and we are obliged to report a debt of $15,451.87, which,
with the debt of the preceding year, makes a total indebtedness of $29,237.73.

For an analysis of the figures, we refer our readers to the report of the Executive Committee on the
finances of the year, published in another part of this number. It was a grand rally our friends made to
save us. We fear that some of them sacrificed more than they ought in contributing so generously as they
did. We pray that God may abundantly reward them. We thank them, one and all, with a heartiness

[Pg 297]

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greater than we can express. We would not sit in judgment upon the churches and professed friends who
have contributed nothing to our treasury during the year. We know that some of them were not
financially able. But we cannot believe that this was true of a majority of them.

The Congregational Year Book of 1885 reports 4,092 Congregational churches in the United States.
We received during the year contributions from 1,677. What can be done to bring the non-contributing
churches into line is a question we beg the pastors of contributing churches and the friends of the
Association to help us answer. The pastors and members of these non-contributing churches as a general
thing do not read our magazine. They are ignorant of our needs, and we do not know how to reach them
so as to wake them up. Had we an army of agents to visit and talk to them, we might move them to take
our work upon their thought and sympathy. Our appeals by circular, by newspaper, resolutions of State
conferences and of the National Council, all fail to move them. They still continue not to hear and not to
do. There is only one way that we can think of by which they can be reached, and that is for the local
conferences to take the matter in hand, and select a committee of "a persistent ONE," who by letter,
and, if need be, by personal visitation, will bring the delinquents up to meet the obligations of fellowship
and denominational honor.

But as seen over against this long list of do-nothings what a grand army the 1,677 contributing churches
appear! Theirs has been the work and theirs is the glory of "a well done" both from God and man. They
form a base of supplies from which the army at the front can be recruited and sustained, and which can
be counted on for support till the victory is won. We enter upon the new year with fresh confidence and
renewed strength. No such word as "fail" finds place in our vocabulary so long as we have such friends
behind us and God above and around us. The work will not be permitted to suffer. We shall throw off
the debt. The faithful 1,677 will be reinforced. Our friends will be multiplied, and the work carried
triumphantly forward.

WHAT OUR FRIENDS THINK AND SAY.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS RECEIVED BY THE TREASURER DURING THE PAST

FEW WEEKS.

"If any part of the country is to be put first, the South should be, and helped most. Hence the inclosed,
half of it from myself and the other half from the Congregational church here. Your work and that of your
compeers is above criticism. All there is of you is put in with a skill and completeness which are not
surpassed; and your plans are as large as the field and as complete as its needs. No one could get more
out of the money or put it where it would do more good. You and yours are as unmingled beneficence as
rum shops are unmitigated maleficence. Were it in my power, I would build a new school-house in the
South every year. My heart never thinks of you and your work without blessing you in it; and I have
written the above as a sort of relief." (We hardly feel ourselves worthy of such generous praise, but we
do very heartily thank our brother for his warm indorsement.—Ed.)

"Inclosed find a small sum to help elevate and Christianize the colored freedmen. Grains of sand make
the mountains, and drops of water the ocean, and the invisible workmen rear the coral islands; so may
God's people one and all do what they can, and your debt will be wiped out."

"At our meeting last evening, I read your appeal and took up a collection of $6, which I send you. It is a
little Home Missionary church of only 10 members, but they are good ones, and in earnest. Hope all
other churches will do as well and your society be saved from debt."

"Got your final appeal before last Sunday, but were so happy to think we had not waited for it, having
taken our collection and subscription two weeks before. But owing to the general poverty among my
people, we had to give time, and the sum is only now made up. I may say that this little amount at this
time represents more real giving than any collection I ever secured. May a blessing go with it."

"I feel myself, like Paul, a debtor to all men, especially the classes you represent. Accept, then, my single
mite, in the spirit in which I desire to send it, and may the Lord free you from the threatening debt by
leading your constituency to feel their indebtedness to these classes and to Himself."

"I inclose $10, and wish I might increase it a hundred-fold. I had already given all that I intended, but
could not resist the urgent appeal for the needy."

"The notices of your financial need came and touched a responsive chord in my heart. A week ago I
gave a preparatory notice that a collection would be taken yesterday in your behalf. The people
responded quite liberally. Inclosed find draft for the amount. You have my earnest prayer for the success
of your effort to raise what you lack. May God bless you in your work and labor of love." (It was indeed
a generous contribution, yet nearly one-third of it came out of the pastor.—Ed.)

"I had thought I had done all I could afford in these times, but coincident with your appeal came the

[Pg 299]

inclosed, for which I had another place; but here, take it. The Lord will provide."

"In response to your society's importunity, I inclose $2. I took the collection up after a sermon I
preached on Foreign Missions. We surprised our people by the amount, as we don't usually get by a
collection one dollar. I hope you will realize soon that there is no debt." (We have always believed that
one of the best ways to rouse people up to Home Missions is to stir them up on Foreign Missions.
—Ed.)

DEATH OF PRESIDENT WARE.

Edmund A. Ware was born in North Wrentham, now Norfolk, Mass., Dec. 22, 1837, and died
suddenly of heart disease in Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 25, 1885. He passed the early years of his life under
conditions which made him acquainted with hardships, and fitted him to have warm sympathy for those
who struggled against obstacles and trials.

He was graduated from Yale College in 1863. During his college course his attention was often turned to
the field for Christian work, then being opened in the South by the steady advance of our armies, and his
sympathies were strongly enlisted for a race just coming out of the prison house of bondage, and he was
ambitious to have a part in laying the foundations of a new and better society in the regions desolated by
war.

He was appointed an officer of the Freedman's Bureau in 1867, with charge of the schools opened
under its auspices in the State of Georgia, which position he held for three years, until the closing of that
branch of the work of the government.

His great work, however, was in connection with Atlanta University, an institution for higher education,
whose foundation he was active in securing, and over whose interests he presided until the day of his
death. He labored for its welfare and that of the people in whose interests it was established with rare
devotion, and rejoiced in its steady growth and prosperity with special personal gratification.

Owing to some peculiar circumstances the institution early secured the favorable attention of the State
authorities, and an annual appropriation from the State treasury. In the endeavors to secure and confirm
this grant he was conspicuously and honorably active, and during the many years of its continuance his
relations to the officers of the State with whom he has thus been brought into contact have been
exceptionally pleasant, and in some cases cordial.

During the last year of his life he took great interest in the successful opening of an industrial department
in the institution, and for the last few weeks his great anxiety had been to secure the furnishing of a large
new building whose erection he had personally overlooked. He had returned to Atlanta in advance of his
family to make preparations for the school year soon to open, had completed most of his plans, and
seemed in unusual good health and spirits. Soon after dinner on Friday, Sept. 25, feeling dizzy while in
his own house, where he was alone, he sought the open air and walked toward the house of Professor
Bumstead, but becoming alarmed by increasing faintness he made loud calls, which were promptly
responded to by Mr. and Mrs. Bumstead; but in spite of all remedies and efforts he speedily passed
away to enter upon his well-earned rest and his glorious reward. The crushing effects of this sudden
blow upon his household, upon his associates and the people who loved and revered him, cannot be
described. At his funeral services all classes of the community were largely represented, and sympathy
for the bereaved was profound. The grief of former pupils was touching, and was like that of children
bereft of a father.

So passed away in the maturity of his powers and the midst of his usefulness, one of the earliest and
most efficient of that great company who have toiled since the war in this broad and needy field. His
departure seems like a translation; being taken suddenly without the pains and anxieties of wasting
sickness, in the full tide of his greatest success, before any impairment of vigor or any calamity had
overtaken the work he loved so well. He was a man of great power over other men, especially over
young people, who were caught up by his enthusiasm, and borne along sometimes to the attainment of
surprising results. He was well fitted to be a leader in the sphere he chose for himself, and made his mark
upon his generation, and had a large and honorable share in securing the results already achieved, which
are to bless the State and nation with increasing power.

A good man has fallen, and a great gap is made in the ranks of laborers at the front; but the Lord who
loves his own cause better than we do will see that it suffers no loss. As the Lord has taken care that his
servant rests from his labors, it is ours to see that they follow Him.

IYAKAPTAPI.

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[Pg 301]

That is, the ascent from the plains of the head-waters of the Minnesota River to the Coteau du Prairie,
or high table-land to the west. The old trail up-hill here gave the name Ascension to the place. There the
tribes—Dakota tribes—met together for their annual autumn feast—the missionary conference on the
24th of September. On the Sabbath the little church was too small, and 400 Indians, with a sprinkling of
white people, sat outside in the sun, some on benches, and most on the grass, around the Communion
table. The tents of those who had come in from long distances were pitched on either side in the ravines,
among the fall foliage, and the wide brown plain, with a long gleam of shining lake far off, lay below. As
we took the bread and hid our faces in our hands, we thought of that distribution by Galilee, when they
sat in companies on the grassy slope by the lake. It was not "the touch of a vanished hand and the sound
of a voice that is still," but the real presence of Him who said "I am the bread of life," to these 400
Christian Indians whom He had brought up from the low, dead level of barbarism to the present heights
of Christian life.

One little dark baby in a white dress was baptized, and four young people publicly confessed their faith
in a newly-found Saviour.

Solomon, "His Own Grandfather," who has gathered a church of the Dakota refugees from the
Minnesota troubles of 1862, over in Manitoba, spoke to us of the spiritual nature of God's kingdom; and
Ehnamani, who years ago laid down his warrior weapons, administered the bread, telling us of the
tribulation and fire through which Christ went to become bread for our life. Then the "beloved John," our
brother missionary who threw his young strength into the Dakota work at its darkest hour twenty-five
years ago, could hardly control the emotion with which he spoke of the trials out of which the Dakotas
had been brought to this present joy and strength through "His stripes."

It has been a long ascent for fifty years, but now fourteen churches, with a thousand members; eleven
young men's Christian associations; a native missionary society, receiving contributions amounting this
year to $1,165, much of it the fruit of hard labor by Dakota women, with the needle and at the wash-
tub; a Christian community with its own native justices of the peace, rigidly enforcing temperance and
marital law, and, according to the testimony of the United States agent on the ground, more careful of
religious observances than white communities, and no less exemplary in morals; thousands of acres of
cultivated land; these are some of the outward signs of the inner life of God in the heart.

Add to this the 1,000 or more converts gathered in later years and claimed by Episcopalians and Roman
Catholics; add the long roll of those who have ascended to their Lord; add the white people who have
been saved and inspired by the example of their Dakota brethren, and compute if you can the spiritual
fruit of the Dakota Indian Mission.

Then think of this result wrought out, in the midst of what is fast becoming one of the most influential
communities of our land. Christian churches by hundreds, Christian colleges and Christian homes, all built
on this early Indian work as a foundation. Then, as we rejoice in the present interest in work for Indians,
remember the obloquy and opposition of the past through which the early workers struggled.

To appreciate this ascent, one should come up from Western Indian barbarism, and not down from
Eastern culture.

Leave the nightly drumming and dancing and revelry, the daily offering to heathen gods, the daily wailing
and cutting of the flesh at the scaffold of sepulture, and one will acknowledge that God alone has
wrought this change.

Before the regular sessions of the conference a "theological institute" occupied two days. This was
attended by some thirty pastors and leading members of the churches. There were lectures on Bible
history, on family relations, on preaching and pastoral work. Then the general meeting opened with a
hymn written for the occasion by the organist, a young Indian, and the singing was led by native young
men. The topics at the conference were such as the education of children, the missionary cause; and the
one that seemed to call out most discussion was, "How to secure the spiritual growth of the Church."
The young men showed great interest in their Christian associations, and voted to affiliate with their
kindred in the white communities, of whom they heard through the Rev. Mr. Williams, who represented
the Christian association of the young men of Minneapolis. The Indian women, too, had their missionary
meeting, and show the same traits and give evidence of the same activity and zeal that make their white
sisters the main strength of the Christian Church.

So we bid all take heart, and go on upward—iyakaptapi. C. L. Hall.

INDIANS IN THE DAKOTA ASSOCIATION.

This is an ecclesiastical body of a hundred churches that has the opportunity to show the unity of the
spirit in race fellowship. Besides the local German Association, one of the five belonging to it, the Indian
Mission churches and pastors of the Santee Agency and of Fort Sully, with their superintendents, Revs.

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[Pg 303]

Alfred L. and Thomas M. Riggs, are among the members. At the recent annual meeting, held at Huron,
September 17th to 20th, there were present the Riggs brothers, three lady missionaries, and two female
and four male Indians. The service of Rev. A. L. Riggs, as moderator, was justly commended for its
urbanity and promptness. At the meeting of the Woman's Missionary Society, held with the mixed
assembly, the two Indian women, Estelle Ward and Ellen Spotted Bear, were brought forward, in their
usual white woman's garb, to make talks, which were interpreted by Mrs. T. M. Riggs. During some
discussion upon Indian work, the Riggs brothers supplemented their remarks by addresses from Frank
Frazier and Stephen Yellow Hawk, a deacon and a pastor. At the Communion, on the Lord's Day, this
deacon was associated with three white men in distributing the elements. At the final meeting, on Sunday
night, with a crowded house, between the addresses of Rev. Drs. Jos. B. Clark and Jos. E. Roy were
sandwiched two hymns, sung by the natives and their teachers, and also an address by the dignified
pastor at the Santee Agency, Rev. Artemas Ehnamani, interpreted by Rev. A. L. Riggs. This, and the
talks of the other Indians, reported their former condition as heathen and their coming to the light through
their missionaries. Particularly touching was the allusion of Pastor Ehnamani to the sainted men, Drs.
Williamson and Riggs. All showed the one spirit, that of the common Redeemer.

THE LAKE MOHONK CONFERENCE.

On the 6th, 7th and 8th of October the third annual meeting of the Lake Mohonk Conference was held.
Hon. Albert K. Smiley and Mrs. Smiley, as usual, extended the hospitality of their magnificent mountain
retreat to the friends of the Indian. The sessions of the conference were of great interest. Eminent men
and women read historical and suggestive papers, and ably discussed the great questions of the Indian
problem. The conference, after much earnest debate, were unanimous in recommending such legislation
by Congress as will give allotments of land in severalty to the Indians—the sale of lands not required for
occupancy, and funding of proceeds therefor for their benefit—the early discontinuance of rations and
annuities, increased educational facilities, including industrial and especially agricultural, and the
dispersion and diffusion of the Indians among the other people of the country, with all the rights and
immunities of other citizens.

THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE.

GENERAL SURVEY.

This Association by its chartered rights is authorized to go anywhere that it finds people destitute of
Gospel privileges. Limitation of means and coöperation with other societies may compel it to a narrower
sphere than the demands call for; but this is the principle that underlies the Association's organization,
and that has characterized all its historic development. The work is at present confined to this country.
We have missions in sixteen States and three Territories. The combined population of these States and
Territories is 17,459,610, and at least one-third of that number are the legitimate objects of this
Association's care. By reason of the necessities of the people our work is both evangelistic and
educational: the church and the school in their united aim securing the salvation of body, mind and soul;
reaching home life, social life and business life; laying the only foundation on which can rest a progressive
and enduring civilization. These mighty forces of Christianity—mother and daughter—in mutual
helpfulness and in close proximity, are the agencies through which, with God's blessing, we hope to
reach and save the people.

CHURCH WORK SOUTH.

STATISTICS.

Churches
112

Missionaries, of which 89 are pastors
119

Members
6,881

Added during the year
1,127

Sunday School scholars
10,569

In this department of our work we are permitted to report very decided growth. Heretofore, the average
number of churches organized each year has been six. This year the number runs up to seventeen. This
increase comes from the maturing of enterprises that have been nursed for a longer or shorter time, and
also the fruiting of our school process and the enlarging of our mountain work. These new churches are

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at Pleasant View and Rockhold, Ky.; at Cedar Cliff, Melville and Johnson's, N. C.; at Jellico, Pleasant
Hill, Robbins, Jonesboro, Grand View and Helenwood, Tenn.; at Rutland, Ga.; Ironton, Ala.;
Greenville, Miss.; Abbeville, La.; and at Dallas and Austin, Tex. They have all been supplied with the
ministry of the word, though several have been yoked two and two under one pastor. Eight of them have
houses of worship, the others use school-houses or chapels of school buildings.

Of the 89 pastors who have ministered to our 112 churches, 30 were from the North and 59 were
raised up in our own institutions at the South. The average membership of these churches is 61. Total
additions for the year, 1,127, of which, on confession of faith, 883. Raised for church purposes,
$12,394.78; for benevolence, $1,625.86.

The evangelist, Rev. J. C. Fields, accompanied by his wife, who aids him by song, has continued his
service through the year. He has labored at Louisville; in our three churches at Nashville; at Meridian,
Jackson and Greenville, Miss.; and at Athens, Tecumseh, Montgomery, Marion, Selma, Talladega,
Birmingham, Ironton and Shelby Iron Works, Ala. As a result, between seven and eight hundred souls
were hopefully led to Christ, and about one half of them gathered into our churches; while other
denominations shared in the precious harvest. At several of the places visited, the religious interest
assumed marvelous power.

At Marion there were 55 who professed Christ, the work spreading from our church into the State
Normal school located there. Two-thirds of the converts were young men, ranging from fifteen to twenty
years of age, who gave themselves earnestly to prayer and labor for the conversion of their comrades. A
little girl, eight years old, was the first of a family to accept Christ. Her mother followed. The father, a
drunkard, through the persuasion of friends, visited the church for the first time. When opportunity was
given those desiring salvation to express their desire, the little child crossed over to where her father was,
and begged him to come. He did not that evening, but a few nights later he yielded and gave his heart to
the Saviour. It is a custom among the colored people to give the hand of welcome to those who have
made up their minds to become Christians; and we can well believe, as an eye-witness describes, "it was
a beautiful as well as a touching scene when this little girl stepped forward to welcome father and mother
on the Lord's side."

At Talladega College there were 116 conversions, including every inmate of the ladies' hall, and, with a
single exception, every boy in the Stone Hall. The meetings, as distinctively revival, had to come to a
close for lack of material upon which to work, and take the form of praise and thanksgiving unto God for
the marvelous display of His grace. It was a literal fulfillment of the Divine promise to "pour out a blessing
that there should not be room enough to receive it."

At Selma there were 300 who confessed their Saviour. Gray-haired men, grandmothers, men and
women in the prime of life, youth and children, were among the converts. "The most glorious work of
grace," writes Pastor Curtis, "it has ever been my privilege to see."

Revivals have also been enjoyed in the Central Church and Straight University, New Orleans; in the
Tougaloo University, where nearly all the students were led to Christ; at New Iberia, La., where, under
the labors of the pastor, fifty-nine were brought into church fellowship; in the First and University
churches, Atlanta, and at several other places. It has been a year of marked religious interest and
progress nearly all over the field.

EDUCATIONAL WORK SOUTH.

STATISTICS.

Chartered Institutions
6

Normal and Graded Schools
14

Common Schools
36

Instructors
250

Pupils
8,823

Classifying the students, we have: Theological, 96; Law, 67; College, 52; College
Preparatory, 113; Normal, 814; Grammar, Intermediate and Primary, 7,681.

The resignation during the year of Professor Salisbury, Superintendent of our school work, and the
transfer to Chicago of Dr. Roy, Superintendent of our church work at the South, raised the question
whether, in view of the system to which these brethren had reduced the work of their respective fields,
the two departments might not be consolidated and their care assigned to one man. With much hesitation
it was decided to try the experiment. Rev. C. J. Ryder, of Medina, O., has been selected to take the
new position, and has entered upon its duties. His headquarters will be at Cincinnati, from which point,
by reason of its central location and excellent railroad facilities, the whole field will be easily accessible.

[Pg 306]

We regretfully part with Professor Salisbury. The three years of his service have been very valuable to
our work, and it is largely because of this service we are permitted to report that our schools were never
before so well organized nor so efficient as now.

The exhibit of our schools in the World's Exposition at New Orleans attracted much attention from
visitors. The New Orleans papers spoke of it in very complimentary terms. Descriptions of it were
written and widely published in the newspapers all over the country. President Hitchcock, of Straight
University, Rev. S. E. Lathrop and several of our colored students, took charge successively of the
exhibit, and were on hand to answer questions regarding the American Missionary Association, its
schools and its work. A large number of pamphlets and tracts were distributed. Representatives from
every State in the Union, and from nearly every nation on the face of the earth, dropped in to learn the
object-lesson the exhibit taught of what Christian education had done for the Indian and the Negro.

At Midway, Ga., an additional building has been erected for the Dorchester Academy. The Storrs
School, Atlanta, by the sale of bullets dug from the battlefields around the city, realized enough to secure
a much-needed kindergarten building. Mrs. F. L. Allen, of Waterbury, Conn., has donated us a property
in Quitman, Ga., containing three acres of land, on which stands a hotel building, nearly new and
thoroughly furnished, to be used as a school for girls. The ladies of the First and Second Congregational
churches of Waterbury promptly seconded Mrs. Allen's gift by raising $1,000 to make the necessary
alterations to put the building in order for the school, and the ladies of the Congregational churches of the
State have so far responded to an appeal for them to assume the support of the school, that it starts out
with an assurance of success from the beginning. Rev. J. H. Parr, formerly of the Tillotson Institute, is to
have the school in charge.

We have not been able to spend much money this year in brick and mortar. We have been obliged to
put our funds almost exclusively into the more practical work of mind and character building.

Fisk University celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year by graduating from its college course fifteen,
two of the number being young ladies. This makes 52 who have been graduated from Fisk. The
Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Tennessee, several State officials, many Senators
and Representatives attended the Commencement exercises and alumni dinner. A series of speeches in
commendation of the good work done at the institution were made by these gentlemen, who bore
testimony to the high standing of the Fisk students as teachers and citizens throughout the State. Of the
37 graduates previous to the class of this year, the record shows that 24 of them are principals and
teachers in different schools; 5 are pastors of churches; 1 is a missionary in Africa under the American
Board; 2 are practicing lawyers; 2 are studying for the professions—1 in a theological, the other in a
medical school; 1 is a member of the Tennessee Legislature; and 2, who were teachers, have died. Its
roll numbers 427, including representatives of 21 States and 1 Territory.

Talladega College has had 365 students. This was more than it could comfortably care for. The girls' hall
was crowded. Some applicants had to be refused for lack of room. The new Cassidy School building,
having been used by over 200 pupils, continues to justify its right to be. Prosperity has marked the life of
this college in all its departments.

Atlanta University maintains its well-earned reputation for school work of the highest order; 297 students
have shared its privileges. Colonel L. W. Avery, Chairman of the State Board of Visitors, in his report
last year, was so emphatic and strong in his praise of what he had seen and heard at the University, that
the other members of the Board would not believe him, and he was compelled to modify his praises
before they would accept his report. This year the whole Board was present at the examinations, and the
result is that they have every one been converted, and are now ready to go even farther than the Colonel
in testifying that "the proficiency attained in the scholastic results has been simply astonishing." The
University continues to receive the annual appropriation of $8,000 from the State—a fact that is all
significant respecting the undeniable worth of the school.

Tougaloo University, located on the Illinois Central R. R., about eight miles north of Jackson, the capital
of Mississippi, receives State aid to the amount of $3,000 annually. Two hundred and sixteen students
last year have taxed its utmost capacity for accommodation. Governor Lowry and the State Board of
Visitors attended the commencement exercises, and were surprised at the evidence of the Negro's
capacity for education. Four students took degrees in the elementary Normal course that requires ten
years to complete it, and one took the degree from the higher Normal course, to complete which
requires twelve years.

Straight University, New Orleans, notwithstanding the devastation of floods and the failure of cotton
crops that last year so severely affected the very limited finances of the colored people of Louisiana, was
filled with students at the beginning of the school year, and continued not only crowded, but
overcrowded to the end; 584 scholars were enrolled, including representatives from Cuba, Honduras,
New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois, and even Old England.

Tillotson Institute, Texas, has also had a very crowded and successful year. This is the youngest of our

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chartered schools. It has the modesty that in every way is becoming the youngest member of the family,
but in all that is excellent in work it stands not a whit behind the oldest and the best. It has already
outgrown the comfortable limits of its habitation. The crowding process has struck it, and its cry for relief
is growing sharper and sharper. We shall have to heed its cry one of these days. The great and rapidly-
growing State of Texas challenges our forethought and our care. The State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Hon. B. M. Baker, was present at the commencement exercises, and after commending the
teachers for their faithful work and testifying that the best teachers of the colored schools in Texas were
graduates of the Tillotson Institute, he publicly thanked the people of the North for the establishment and
maintenance of the school. Judge Fullmore, a county school superintendent, who was also present, not
only indorsed all that Mr. Baker had said, but added that in his appointments of teachers he always gave
Tillotson graduates the preference, and that a certificate of graduation from Tillotson in the hands of an
applicant was all the evidence of character and ability he needed.

Were we to continue sketching the salient points in the work of our other schools scattered all over the
South, it would be simply to give fresh illustrations of the five facts already made prominent—crowded
schools, growing necessities, faithful work, good results and outside commendation.

As compared with last year, the statistics in our school work show a falling off of two chartered
institutions and seven common schools. On its face, this looks like loss; in reality, it is gain. The two
chartered institutions dropped out of our statistics are Berea and Hampton, that, as a matter of fact, have
been for several years self-sustaining and independent, and which, as formerly fostered by us, we have
hitherto reported; they are still in the field, doing a greater work than ever, while the seven common
schools, dropped because they ceased to be needed where they were located, are more than
represented in the better work of the other schools, to strengthen which the money thus set free has been
transferred.

We are steadily but slowly coming to the realization of the idea that was the inspiration of the American
Missionary Association's school system—Christian colleges and Normal schools for the training of
leaders, and Christian preparatory schools to furnish them with the right kind of material. The South is
year by year, as its financial ability increases and its public sentiment improves, doing more for the
rudimental instruction of its children. It is the duty of the State to provide elementary education for every
child within its borders, and to that point the Southern States must one day come; but just in proportion
as they come to that point, the necessities for our work increase. The demand for Christian teachers and
preachers and professional men in all ranks at the South will grow as facilities for the elementary
education of the children multiply. Our aim is not only to save the land from ignorance, but to save it from
godless intelligence. Infidelity is as much the enemy of free institutions as ignorance; and when the
children are intelligent, an ignorant leadership is almost as effective as an infidel leadership to raise up an
infidel people; so that, as intelligence spreads among the youth of the South, we are placed under
accumulating obligations, by virtue of our loyalty to the kingdom of our Lord, and by virtue of our
interest in the perpetuity of republican institutions, to strengthen, enlarge and multiply this work. Of
course, just now, and for a great many years to come, by far the greater part of our school work must
be in the lower grades of instruction. So long as it can be said, that in the Southern States eighty per
cent. of the colored and thirty per cent. of the white population are illiterate; that there are not
educational facilities enough to furnish fifty per cent. of the children with even a chance to learn their
letters; that there are whole communities and sections in which there are no schools whatever; that there
are thousands and tens of thousands of children and youth who would be glad to go to school did they
have opportunity; so long we must continue to furnish elementary instruction in all our schools, and as far
as possible to open such small schools as may meet the present but transient exigency, to be dropped, as
we have the seven common schools above referred to, when, from whatever cause, the necessity for
them has passed away. The Executive Committee desires to emphasize and to have the constituents of
the American Missionary Association keep it constantly before them, that as the cause and means of
popular education extend in the South, the necessity for the work of the Association becomes stronger
and stronger.

As seen from this stand-point, the desirability of bringing our larger institutions as speedily as possible,
where they shall be able to take care of themselves, becomes clear and urgent. They should be at once
so far endowed that the question of their permanence as conservators of the supremacy of Christian
leadership in the thought, character and life of the people should be settled beyond peradventure for all
time.

We commend these schools to the special regard of those who are looking about to invest money
where, in the name of the Lord, it will yield rich and enduring returns.

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

Schools in which industries are taught
16

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Special industrial teachers
10

Teachers combining industrial with other work
21

Industrial teaching is made prominent at Santee, Oahe, at all of our chartered institutions, at Le Moyne
Institute, Memphis, Tenn., Lewis High School, Macon, Ga., and incidentally at six other schools. Aid
has been received from the Slater Fund for this work at Macon, Atlanta, Nashville, Tougaloo, Talladega,
Memphis and Austin. Nearly all the scholars in attendance pursue some of the branches of industry
taught. Housekeeping, cooking, dress-making, care of the sick, agriculture, blacksmithing, harness-
making, type-setting and printing are made prominent, according to the conveniences at hand. Atlanta,
Talladega and Tougaloo have farms which are worked by the students under the instruction of practical
farmers. At several other points farming could be successfully taught if only we had the farms, and we
could have the farms if only we had the money.

For the teaching of the trades we need special buildings. Progress has been made in this direction.
Atlanta University has erected "The Knowles Industrial Building," a memorial of the late Mr. L. J.
Knowles, of Worcester, Mass., whose widow not long before her death appropriated $6,000 for this
object. It is a brick building 100 by 44 feet, with two stories and a basement, and, for its use, is one of
the finest in the South. At Macon, a two-story building has been constructed—the upper story for the
Lewis Library and the lower for a carpenter shop. At Talladega has been also built a two-story
structure, the upper story to be used for carpentry and the lower for blacksmithing. The citizens of
Memphis two years ago gave Professor Steele $1,000 to put a girl's industrial department into the Le
Moyne school, and now they have pledged him $600 more to secure a workshop for the boys. Fort
Berthold in Dakota and Fisk and Straight Universities at the South greatly need industrial buildings, and
there are other schools of which the same might be said with equal emphasis.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of industrial training. Latest in development in connection
with our schools, it may yet prove first in value. Labor is heaven-ordained. It is the chief instrumentality
through which a people are elevated. Grace saves the soul and transforms character instantly. It makes
the savage and sinner kind and good instantly; but it will not instantly make him a good farmer, a skilled
mechanic, a trained scholar. Up from the lowest to the highest, man must toil patiently and laboriously.
Nature will tolerate neither jumps nor deceptions. It is no kindness to put a man where he is out of place,
and still less is it a kindness to make him believe that he has a right to be there. He who climbs up into
position or who is foisted into it by any other instrumentality than by the toil necessary to fit him for the
position, the same is a thief and a robber. The police forces of Nature will speedily put him under arrest.
The judicial forces of Nature will soon cast him into a prison, out of which he shall not come until
beginning at the bottom, by diligent labor, he is willing to pay the last farthing at every step in the process
of his advancement. The implements and the products of industry are the gauges of civilization. Between
the roughly-hewn stone hatchet and the finely-polished steel axe lies all the history of the world's
progress. The college, the library, the fine residence and the factory of modern civilization are at one end
of the line, the other end of which starts from the dug-out and the hut. Man, in the highest estate, forget
or ignore it as he may, has that in him which connects him with the lowest, and labor, the hard labor of
his ancestors, extending through the ages as well as his own, has been the means of bringing him where
he is. If the Indian and the negro are to be elevated, they must rise by the same steps as have others.
They must work their way up. But they who are above them, remembering the pit out of which they
themselves have been dug, must give them a chance to rise, and help them as they try to rise. That they
have the capacity for elevation along every line of human development has been abundantly proved over
and over again. The industrial exhibit of the colored people at the recent Centennial Exposition in New
Orleans, was in every way gratifying to their friends. Though these people are only 20 years out of the
house of their 250 years' bondage, antedated by millenniums of barbarism, they sent articles showing
their progress in the industries that more than filled the entire gallery assigned them in one end of the
immense Government building.

MOUNTAIN WORK.

This work has gone forward the past year with marked success. In Kentucky, Rev. J. T. Ford, having
taken the pastoral charge of the church at Williamsburg, Rev. A. A. Myers was at liberty to give himself
to more extended missionary work; and, as might be expected, he has gone into it with a will. He has
organized three new churches; one at Jellico, with 11 members; one at Pleasant View, with 13 members,
and one at Rockhold, with 15 members. Under his superintendency the Jellico church has erected a
good, commodious house, but it needs a bell. The congregations number from 250 to 300, and the
pastor, Rev. E. W. Bullock, reports the interest as increasing.

Pleasant View Church has also put up a house of worship, now complete except seats. At Rockland,
stone is on the ground. Mr. Myers using his own team to haul it, himself being teamster, and the lumber is
all ready to begin work. A chapel is soon to be erected at South Williamsburg, where there are hundreds
around the mills who cannot be induced to attend church up town. Eleven Sunday-schools, with an

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enrollment of 1,200 and an average of 750, have been maintained. These schools extend from Jellico on
the State line to the northern part of Whitley County along the railroad. Besides these, several students
from the Academy have conducted Sunday-schools at their homes, reporting an enrollment of 160.

Day schools have been kept at Woodbine, Rockhold, Dowlais and Jellico with marked success.

The Williamsburg Academy has had an enrollment of 203. The reputation and influence of this school are
extending far and wide. The teachers, imbued with the missionary spirit, have been a power in the church
and in the community as well as in the school. The question whether our schools could be kept up if
colored students were admitted, has been squarely met and answered, and right at our central station,
Williamsburg, we have had colored pupils during the past two terms. When they were first admitted,
there was a stampede of the white scholars, reducing the number of pupils from 120 to 40, but as they
had a chance to think the matter over, and they saw the school going right along as if nothing had
happened, and that it was going to keep right along, they began to come back again, with still others to
join them, so that the school closed with a larger enrollment than the previous year. The excitement
caused a discussion that found its way into the newspapers of the State, and gave the school such an
advertisement as could not have been secured by years of ordinary work. We shall have no more
trouble with the color question in Whitley County. It has been settled, and settled right.

In Tennessee, the Independent Church at Sherwood, and its pastor, Rev. A. B. Smith, have entered our
fellowship by joining the Central South Association. On the Cumberland plateau, Pastor B. Dodge has
secured the organization of a church with 16 members, which is associated with his church at Pomona.
An organ and hymn-books were furnished by the Pilgrim Church, Cambridgeport, Mass. The people
have subscribed $300, chiefly in lumber, toward a much-needed chapel for church and day school. At
both these points day schools have been maintained. At Grand View, the first year of the Academy has
proved a success, and now a church has been organized in association with it, both to be under the care
of Rev. C. B. Riggs.

The school work of Mrs. St. Clair in Scott County has been remarkable. Three years ago there were 27
saloons and two Sunday-schools in the county, one school held in Mrs. St. Clair's tent and the other in a
blacksmith shop; now there are three saloons and 25 Sunday-schools, and the good people are praying
with much confidence that their prayers will be answered for three less saloons and three more Sunday-
schools. Mr. R. F. Taft, of Worcester, Mass., was sent down to help in this field. His labors were
wonderfully blessed. Two churches, one at Robbins, the other at Helenwood, were organized. He is not
able to continue in our service, but, in speaking of what has been accomplished, he has this to say:
"Wherever I went the people were so eager to hear the Gospel that it was a joyous work to me. All
came together, natives an...